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Home > Hub > Who's Who In Private Banking 2021



HOW SINGAPORE IS SETTING NEW HIGHS IN THE FAMILY OFFICE SPACE

A surge in demand for family office services such as succession planning has put
Singapore on the radar.
Wed, Aug 25, 2021 - 5:50 AM
UPDATED Wed, Aug 25, 2021 - 5:50 AM
LEE WOON SHIU
To wealthy families, the Covid-19 pandemic has accentuated the appeal of
Singapore, with its stability and high quality of life.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
Lee Woon Shiu is group head of Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance
Solutions, DBS Private Bank
PreviousNext


FAMILY offices go wherever wealth goes, and accompanying Asia's tectonic rise
over the past decades as a global economic powerhouse is the corresponding surge
of wealth and family offices in the region.

We expect this trend to persist as Asia's fundamentals stay primed for robust
growth; also fuelling this is the region's maturing wealth, as we sit on the
cusp of an intergenerational wealth transfer in the coming 10 to 20 years.

As Asia's family offices are mostly in their first or second generation, and
only now approaching their first wealth transfer, this is sparking a surge in
demand for family office services such as succession planning.

Against this backdrop, Singapore has risen on the radar for many family offices,
which are dedicated teams or structures that manage an ultra high net worth
(UHNW) family's financial, and sometimes non-financial, affairs.







According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the number of family offices
in the little red dot rose five-fold between 2017 and 2019.








This reflects the appeal of "Singapore Inc": the nation's strong force of law,
political and economic stability, friendly tax regime and high quality of life,
among other factors. Along with Singapore's strong regional connectivity and
expertise in navigating cross-cultural and cross-jurisdictional complexities,
more family offices are coming to view Singapore as the gateway to Asia's
opportunities, and an ideal neutral place from which to invest in the region.

THE PANDEMIC, A TURNING POINT (AND WAKE-UP CALL) FOR MANY UHNW FAMILIES

Family offices may have sufficient capital buffers to emerge from the pandemic
with their wealth intact, but they've still been impacted in other ways. For
one, Covid-19 has triggered in them a sense of vulnerability, be it in terms of
mortality or the possible transience of their assets.

This has prompted many families to place greater urgency on structural,
long-term needs such as wealth preservation and governance, which may not have
been top-of-mind previously.

Secondly, the pandemic (along with its indirect side effects, such as
intensifying populist sentiments and extraordinary monetary policies) has
heightened the possibility that we are en route to a world where tightened
regulatory regimes and higher wealth taxes are on the cards. This has triggered
families to explore more tax-efficient structuring options.

On a more positive note, the pandemic has also prompted families to rethink
their role in society. Over the past year, we've had more clients express
intentions to help communities in their home countries, or to do good by funding
or mentoring social enterprises, which are dual bottom-line companies, or
setting up philanthropy trusts.

Covid-19 has been a turning point, and we expect it to reshape the way forward
for many wealthy families.

Already, we're seeing a mindset shift in wealth management - more are now
planning with stability and longevity in mind, and taking a broader view of
their legacy across all four pillars of business, financial, family, and
philanthropy, rather than just the first two in the past.

The pandemic has also accentuated Singapore's appeal to these families, many of
whom were impressed by its transparency and tenacity in handling the crisis in
contrast to efforts in their home countries, and the agility throughout
Singapore's family office ecosystem.

THE TRANSFORMATIVE EVOLUTION OF SINGAPORE'S FAMILY OFFICE PROPOSITION

Being a family office hub makes good sense for Singapore. While family offices
may only hire a small number of staff directly, they can potentially generate a
wide-reaching impact through their extensive suite of services and activities.

This in turn triggers a multiplier effect on the ecosystem, affecting many more
stakeholders and service providers such as asset managers, custodians, trustees,
corporate service providers, lawyers and technology providers, just to name a
few - thus creating significant employment and growth opportunities for the PMET
space, and potentially engineering hugely beneficial outcomes for Singapore's
economy.

Singapore has long emerged as a front runner in this space, ranking second only
to Switzerland in the 2018 Deloitte International Wealth Management Centre
Rankings. It continues to progress rapidly, driven by the collective commitment
of the authorities and wider ecosystem towards making Singapore the destination
of choice for family offices. Referencing the I.D.E.A. framework (representing
Innovators, Disruptors, Enablers and Adaptors), which was presented by our Chief
Investment Office to pick winners in the new economy, Singapore's family office
proposition ticks all four boxes.

Innovator: Tax is a pertinent concern for many, if not all, family offices.
Singapore has reinvigorated traditional frameworks by introducing various
innovative tax incentive schemes to attract foreign families to base their
family office investment activities here. These include the likes of Section
13CA, Section 13R and Section 13X of the Income Tax Act, which allow family
investment vehicles (both in and outside the city state) to enjoy Singapore tax
exemption on specified income derived from designated investments.

Of course, family offices consider a whole host of non-fiscal factors beyond tax
when choosing a sustainable long-term landing point for their families and
assets.

In fact, over the past years we've seen tax diminish as a factor; families are
instead prioritising factors such as the ability to diversify jurisdictional
risk, strong and transparent rule of law, proximity and connectivity to
attractive investment opportunities, and an established financial centre with a
large pool of professionals, among others.

The beauty of "Singapore Inc" thus comes into play here, as it provides families
with a one-stop solution to address all these needs.

Disruptor: Conventionally, family offices were used for the primary purposes of
family governance and succession. Singapore has disrupted this by offering a new
angle - residency, by providing families that are investing substantially in
Singapore the ability to pivot to an employment pass or Singapore permanent
residency status, depending on the family office scheme for which they qualify.

Domiciliation concerns have come to the fore with Covid-19, since crises
highlight the need to park our loved ones in safe jurisdictions, and we can
expect this optionality to go a long way for many families.

Enabler: Singapore's family office proposition also serves as an enabler in
ramping up the social impact and ESG narrative, and can over time help develop
Asia's venture philanthropy landscape. This is a space that DBS Private Bank
feels strongly for too.

So beyond working closely with the key agencies driving Singapore's family
office journey to advance on this front, we also have in place a suite of
in-house efforts - these include helping clients to integrate an ESG lens when
making investment decisions, and partnering DBS Foundation, which is dedicated
to nurturing social enterprises in the region, to connect social enterprises
with the families we work with for venture philanthropy opportunities or other
forms of support.

Beyond doing good, this also benefits the families in the long-run: it builds
goodwill, strengthens the family legacy and values, and can also help the next
gens, who tend to be more socially conscious, to start adopting a bigger role
within the family business.

Adaptor: Adaptability is essential, especially in such fast-changing times. To
this end, key agencies such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the
Economic Development Board have proven that they are nimbly staying atop of
change.

Take, for example, family office applications - these usually require in-person
meetings, which weren't possible when the pandemic hit and put travel on a
standstill. In response, they nimbly launched new workarounds such as virtual
interviews, to keep business moving and continue serving the needs of these
families.

They're also progressive on the legislative front. Last year, they launched a
new wealth planning tool for multi-family offices in the form of the Variable
Capital Company (VCC) regime, to leverage growing interest in Singapore's family
office proposition.

Beyond providing a competitive framework to structure private equity investments
and extended family succession planning, VCC also facilitates ease of asset
management for multiple cross-border families, and allows them to flexibly move
from one region to another should a future crisis occur.

A STRONG RUNWAY FOR GROWTH AHEAD

We must all evolve to face issues that are pertinent today and lying ahead, and
family offices are no exception. Already, we're seeing the rise of "modern"
family offices that are relooking their structures and plans given growing
globalisation of their wealth, and focusing on being agile in times of change.

This is evidenced by the spike in Western family offices that are setting up
satellite family office outposts in Asia, as well as families embracing the
option of relocating key investment teams and even strategic family members in
Singapore.

We see a strong runway for Singapore's family office landscape moving forward,
given its "Singapore Inc" appeal, and its ability to pre-empt, pivot, and ready
itself for whatever the future holds.

With wealth becoming increasingly internationalised and families becoming more
globally dispersed, Singapore's strength as a wealth management hub that
markedly blends Eastern and Western cultural norms will undoubtedly continue to
be a compelling magnet for UHNW families worldwide.

DBS Private Bank, as a key piece of the "Singapore Inc" narrative and a trusted
advisor to these families, stands committed to working alongside the wider
family office ecosystem to fuel its growth, and power its continued ascent on
the global stage.

 * Lee Woon Shiu is group head of Wealth Planning, Family Office and Insurance
   Solutions, DBS Private Bank







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HUB


SETTING ITS SIGHTS ON SINGAPORE AS WEALTH POWERHOUSE


REIMAGINING THE BOARDROOM OF THE FUTURE


PRIVATE BANKS AIM FOR POST-COVID GROWTH


STABILITY THROUGH FLEXIBILITY


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